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February, 2017 ElEctronic Mfg SErvicES
Better Together: Yamaha, Trans-Tec and ADCO Circuits
By Ed Nauss, Global Account Manager — SMT Business Group, Yamaha Motor IM T
here are few things as valuable to a growing business as an excellent partnership. The success story behind ADCO Circuits, Yama-
ha Motor Corporation, USA, and Trans-Tec World- wide, Yamaha’s global service and support part- ner, is one example of an EMS provider, an OEM and a service and support company working to- gether to maximize each other’s opportunities. “We made it quite clear from the beginning
that we were not merely buying equipment, but rather buying into a company,” says Kevin Bar- rett, ADCO’s manufacturing manager. “Our view was that when we purchased from Yamaha and Trans-Tec we were entering into a partnership.” ADCO Circuits, Inc., located in Rochester
Hills, Michigan, provides electronic design and cir- cuit board assembly services to a wide range of companies in the industrial, medical, automotive, telecommunications, aerospace, and military mar- kets. As a full-service, turnkey supplier of custom electronics, ADCO provides support from design and prototyping to NPI and full-rate production. Through-hole, surface mount and flex assemblies are all manufactured, and system box builds make up a large percentage of sales. As Barrett explains, the company’s interest is
in establishing long-term relationships in an open environment with customers who require ad- vanced logistics, production, test, and quality ca-
pabilities. ADCO’s 53,000 ft2 (4,924m2) facility is state-of-the-art and capable of low-to-medium vol- ume assembly and test.
Michigan were dealing in hazardous waste, or elec- tronics manufacturing,” recalls Archie Damman, founder and president of ADCO. “Electronics be- came the right path. A friend introduced me to a local CM who was getting out of the business and we ended up hiring the general manager and the engineer to start ADCO. In the beginning, we were living dollar-to-dollar. We started out very labor- intensive, and then went through our ‘auto-inser- tion’ stage, as key customers were growing our business. Yamaha has become part of our fourth generation of growth from where we began.” ADCO has all the capabilities of its billion-
ADCO’s Archie Damman, founder and president (left) and Kevin Barrett,
manufacturing manager (right), with their Yamaha pick-and-place systems.
Humble Beginnings The company began in 1981, back when inter-
est rates were 20 percent. “I was seeking to start a business, and the top two growth markets in
dollar competitors, Barrett points out, with the same MRP systems in place, the same equipment, and with the same skilled engineers and techni- cians. However, it’s the offshore corporate pricing of components that separates them from local con- tract manufacturers; in fact that is the lion’s share of the cost to build products. “As a mid-market con- tract manufacturer, it’s all about getting the sales,” Barrett says. “We cast our nets far, and our current cus-
tomers are located all around the country. We are not just considered a local supplier —more than 40 percent of our business is outside of Michigan. Fo- cusing on the automotive industry really repre- sents the future for any company located here. We
Continued on next page
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